Abstract
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has from ancient times been applied in China for the treatment of breast cancer with its own unique theoretical system. Sanhuang decoction composed of astragalus membranaceus, prepared rhubarb, and rhizoma curcumae longae has traditionally been used for antioxidant stress, inflammatory reaction, and angiogenesis. However, the role and mechanism of Sanhuang decoction in breast cancer remains unknown. The present study demonstrated the antitumor activity of Sanhuang decoction against breast cancer xenografts in nude mice. Notably, Sanhuang decoction promoted severe necrosis and induced cell death. In addition, Sanhuang decoction obviously regulated the inflammation and oxidative stress. Despite these, Sanhuang decoction could increase the expression of Nrf2. Moreover, si‐Nrf2 exhibited the opposite effects compared with the Sanhuang decoction treatment group and reversed the antibreast cancer role of Sanhuang decoction. Further, Sanhuang decoction remarkably suppressed the expression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Taken together, Sanhuang decoction was firstly evaluated to possess potent antibreast cancer effect in vivo through regulation of inflammation and oxidative stress accomplished by up‐regulation of Nrf2 via PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and Sanhuang decoction might be a powerful candidate formula for antibreast cancer.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women, and the incidence of breast cancer accounts for 31% in women's tumors
Sanhuang decoction composed of astragalus membranaceus, prepared rhubarb, and rhizoma curcumae longae has been widely used for the treatment of antioxidant stress, inflammatory reaction, and angiogenesis in patients (Wang et al, (2014))
Sanhuang decoction had positive role in inhibiting the growth of MCF‐7 cancer xenografts in vivo, and the results of H & E and transferase‐ medimed dUTP nick‐end‐labeling (TUNEL) demonstrated that Sanhuang decoction could promote severe necrosis and induce cell death
Summary
There have been many reports on the prevention and treatment of breast cancer from the aspects of cell and gene, which widens the research field of traditional Chinese medicine in treating breast cancer (Lee et al, 2014; Wong, Tan, Chen, Teo, & Chan, 2014). Many related studies have shown that the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine for breast cancer treatment is eliminating stagnation, detumescence, dissipation blood stasis, acesodyne, dilatation of blood vessels, and improvement of microcirculation (Lin et al, (2018); Tsai, Lai, Lo, Chen, & Lin, 2017; Wang et al, 2016). With the in‐depth study of the cause of the breast cancer in modern medicine, the mechanism of the prevention and cure of recurrence and metastasis of breast cancer through gene technology and molecular biology will be the trend of the breast cancer research in the future. The present study was designed to explore the role and possible function mechanism of Sanhuang decoction in the development and progression of breast cancer
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